Sig Christenson is a veteran military reporter who has made nine trips to the war zone. He writes regularly for Hearst about service members, veterans and heroes, among other topics. He is also the co-founder and former president of Military Reporters and Editors, founded in 2002.

Air Force

08/17/2014

SAN ANTONIO — More than a year has passed since Tech. Sgt. Jaime Rodriguez got one of the longest prison sentences in the history of the Air Force's training command. Now, his case is being used as a training tool for recruits at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.

At the start of a class at the recruiting school, Tech Sgt. Christopher Hilfer, an instructor, put photos of Rodriguez and Airman 1st Class Elizabeth Jacobson, a 21-year-old killed in Iraq, on a screen.

“To me she's a true hero, somebody I think everybody should look up to,” he said. “Does anybody know who the person on the left is?”

“Sgt. Rodriguez?” a student asked.

“You might even have heard about him a little bit,” Hilfer said before detailing the outcome of Rodriguez's trial, where he was sentenced to 27 years in prison for sexual abuse of recruits. “How would you feel if this person had been recruited by this person? It's not acceptable.”

07/14/2014

SAN ANTONO — The Air Force said Monday it would eliminate 352 jobs in San Antonio as part of a nationwide restructuring of headquarters staffs that is expected to save $1.6 billion.

All of the jobs lost here mostly likely will come from the Air Education and Training Command, but Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek didn't have details. It also wasn't clear how many people would lose their jobs.

In some cases, she said, unfilled positions will be eliminated.

“We don't know that yet because there will be some number of those that are military positions,” Stefanek said, noting that those in uniform would be reassigned elsewhere.

06/26/2014

SAN ANTONIO — The Air Force said Wednesday it would dramatically expand its cyber mission in San Antonio, relocating up to 1,440 troops and civilian workers to the city this fall.

Joint Base San Antonio was selected to host three cyber protection squadrons and a command group to operate under the 24th Air Force, which is based at Port San Antonio.

Long home to the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency, the city has evolved into a center of cyber and intelligence agencies that include the 24th Air Force, Joint Reserve Information Operations/Intelligence Center, the Air Force Electronic Warfare School and National Security Agency.

06/01/2014

The head of the Air Force's training command said he wasn't surprised by critical comments that instructors at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland made last year about their leaders, working conditions and recruits under their watch.

Gen. Robin Rand said it was a rough time on the base when the survey of instructors was done last July. But he said “a lot of the angst” — caused by a manpower shortage that forced them to put in long work hours and give up vacation — was addressed.

He also said basic training is “on the right glide path” after a sex scandal that prompted a highly publicized command-directed investigation two years ago. He said a more recent survey showed morale is rising among trainers in Lackland's elite instructor corps.

07/31/2013

Two Air Force pilots escaped injury this week when their T-38 Talon jet belly landed at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph.

Details about the incident were unclear, but the 12th Flying Training Wing said in a brief statement that the twin-engine, supersonic aircraft touched down without its landing gear on the base's east runway.

The Air Force did not say if the accident was believed to have been triggered by mechanical failure of some kind or possibly human error, but a 12th Flying Training Wing spokeswoman, Bekah Clark, said the pilot in command of the jet declared an in-flight emergency. The pilots were not identified.

The incident occurred at 10:30 a.m. Monday, but the wing did not send a release to media outlets advising than an accident had occurred, a routine practice of military public affairs offices.

A notice about the crash was initially posted on the wing's website at 11:10 a.m. Monday and updated Tuesday morning.

The Randolph-based aircraft didn't carry dummy bombs and cannot dump fuel. After it landed, it slid down the runway, but Clark didn't say how far it went before stopping. First-responders were called to the scene after the plane landed, but no water or foam was used, she said.

Damage was still being determined. Flying operations resumed Tuesday on the east runway, one of two at Randolph.

The accident is the first at Randolph in 10 years. In that crash, a T-38 with two instructor pilots went down March 19, 2003 while making a touch-and-go landing after the right tire gave way. The left tire then collapsed as the pilot tried to control the plane.

07/28/2013

The Air Force has charged an enlistee with sexually abusing two people, one of them younger than 16, at a camp an hour northeast of Del Rio that hosted San Antonio high school students.

The Air Force said over the weekend that Airman 1st Class Nathan G. Wilson-Crow, a combat cameraman at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, exposed himself to a child younger than 16, who was identified as Victim 2, and had sexual contact with another camp participant, identified as Victim 1. Wilson-Crow was accused of touching a third person while in the presence of Victim 2, but no charge resulted from that.

07/27/2013

A jury Friday night found an Air Force basic training instructor not guilty of rape.

Tech. Sgt. Marc Gayden was charged with rape, forcible sodomy and trying to develop an illicit personal relationship with a woman while he was her instructor at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland nearly three years ago.

Earlier in the day, fellow trainers testified that Gayden was a trusted leader.

“That man is probably the epitome of what an instructor should be,” said Master Sgt. Greg Pendleton, a 19-year Air Force veteran.

Much of the questioning during the four-day trial centered on whether the woman, identified as Airman 1, could have been alone in a dorm on Dec. 24, 2010, the day of the alleged attack, and if Gayden missed physical training sessions. Testimony has conflicted on the issues.

07/25/2013

The star witness against an Air Force basic training instructor charged with raping her in a dormitory office said his misconduct began with a kiss she didn't see coming — and says she didn't want.

Taking the stand against Tech. Sgt. Marc Gayden for about three hours Thursday, the woman told a five-member jury the first incident occurred as she stood duty as a dorm guard.

“He came up to me and tried to hug me, and I turned my head,” said the woman, identified as Airman 1.

Gayden is charged with rape, forcible sodomy and trying to develop an illicit personal relationship with the woman while he was her basic training instructor at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. He could get life in prison.

As the morning unfolded, Airman 1 maintained her military bearing, never becoming flustered or emotional.

She maintained that Gayden raped her even after Houston defense attorney Guy Womack highlighted differences in three statements she gave Air Force investigators, the email she sent and an evidentiary hearing here in April.

A prosecutor, Capt. Mark Schwartz, this week said Airman 1 was on crutches nursing a bad ankle on Christmas Eve 2010 when she talked with Gayden about the injury. They were in his office a short walk from her bed.

As they talked, the government alleges, he tried to kiss her, then put a hand down her pants and pushed her into a chair, where he briefly forced her to perform oral sex.

When it was over, the recruit limped to bed and cried, leaving her crutches behind, she said. A few minutes later, she said, he stood over her.

“'No one's going to believe you,'” Airman 1 recalled him saying.

Womack calls her a liar and worked throughout the day to damage her credibility. He threw many punches as 10 witnesses took the stand, but landed few.

The star witness and accuser against an Air Force basic training instructor charged with rape said his misconduct began with a kiss she didn't see coming.

Tech. Sgt. Marc Gayden is charged with rape, forcible sodomy and trying to develop an illicit personal relationship with the woman while he was her basic training instructor at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. He faces life in prison if convicted.

Gayden is the 25th instructor to go on trial in a scandal that so far has seen 33 trainers fall under investigation for misconduct with 67 recruits and technical school students.

Prosecutors say Gayden raped the woman and tried to force her to perform oral sex.

The witness identified as Airman 1 took the stand for around three hours Thursday to testify against Gayden. She said she was standing duty as a dorm guard on the night of the incident, when Gayden left an office inside her living quarters.

“He came up to me and tried to hug me, and I turned my head,” she said.

Houston defense attorney Guy Womack spent much of the morning trying to debunk her testimony.

The case hinges on her believability. She is the sole witness against Gayden, an 11-year Air Force veteran the defense says was highly regarded.

As the morning unfolded, she maintained her military bearing, never becoming emotional as some victims have over the last 15 months.

07/24/2013

An Air Force basic training instructor on trial for raping a recruit won't be allowed to bring witnesses to the stand who would testify that the chief accuser in the case lied about him.

Houston attorney Guy Womack wanted the judge, Lt. Col. Grant Kratz, to let him call several former recruits to testify the woman made up claims that Tech. Sgt. Marc Gayden showed favors to them during basic training.

Prosecutors argued that the allegation was irrelevant because Gayden faces life in prison for rape and forcible sodomy, and was not charged with misconduct associated with favoritism. Womack, however, said the testimony was a crucial cog in the defense's strategy.

“Our defense is she lied, period,” he told the judge Wednesday.

An 11-year Air Force veteran, Gayden is the 25th basic training instructor to be tried in a sex scandal at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland that is the worst in the service's history. So far, 33 instructors have been investigated for misconduct with 67 recruits and technical school students.

Jury selection was to begin this morning for Gayden, who has asked that a panel of officers and NCOs hear his case. He took the stand Tuesday as Womack, who defended Abu Ghraib torturer Cpl. Charles Graner, sought to admit an email into evidence.